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We are at the SHOT Show

We are at SHOT Show this week, first time but was not sure what to expect but it in the end it is exactly like every other industry convention and show I have been to in the past, tons of companies trying to convince buyers they need what they are selling. I am very glad I have most of the guns I want . . . ‘cepting all those cool NFA guns. So I am here, looking for some ideas to ramp up our training curriculum and thought I would throw out some ideas and see what floats.

The first idea I had was a simulator so to speak. A company, Laser Shot offers a firearms training simulator. Basically a projector, program and videos you can use with a laser activated firearms to help you make decisions on when to shoot and where. It can obviously be used to strengthen your trigger skills but what I liked best was the shoot/no shoot scenarios. It comes with about 60 scenarios, the instructor can change the path based on your tendencies, and it allows you to make the decision when to shoot and if your hits were accurate. Donna and I tried it out, it was a lot of fun and can certainly get your heart rate up. From the standpoint of helping you learn it is excellent but it is purely a class room tool used in conjunction with live fire on range days. I really liked it and it is still in the running. They offer a CCW PSATS series of videos for citizens so you can test your skills against a variety of situations.

Idea #2 is that in a dynamic situation there is always movement. In a square range situation the only movement we can get is the shooter movement as the target is stationary. I’ve been looking at this concept for a couple of years now where the target is moving, in Bill Rogers book Be Fast, Be Accurate, Be the Best, the targets are moving, his first moving target was a rolling sheet of butcher paper moving from side to side with targets you were to hit based on threat, non-threat. I found a couple of years ago a little tractor that moved by remote control with a target mounted above. The Northern Lights Tactical system provides this but still it is just a rolling target. One of the new concepts to this system is a reactive target, the Hannibal Reactive System that actually moves and has sounds when hit. While certainly cool to use I am uncertain if it actually accomplishes the goal of dealing with a real threat while amping up your fear and stress level.

Finally there is the Simunition Force on Force methodology. In this method there is an actual bad guy, with a real gun, firing real “ammuntion” at you and you have to negate the threat before you take a “real” hit. There are several companies using Simunition in CQB training scenarios. The realism of this is there are impacting marking round that really stink and you have to deal with the threat before you are “injured” in the fight. Watch the video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWleJXC88Eg

From our perspective real life training with real stress improves the shooters capabilities far more than you will ever get on a square range practice session.

So, if you were given the three options which would you prefer to take;
A laser fired handgun dealing with a video threat, no live fire.
A moving target you use live fire to negate,
Or a real live threat who will shoot you with a round that will significantly sting if you FAIL to neutralize the threat?